Consumer Ethnocentrism and Influence of Role Model on Generational Cohorts’ Purchase Intentions towards Herbal Products

Abstract

Purpose:

The main purpose of this study was to investigate what leads customers to ethnocentrism and the effects of ethnocentrism on their attitudes towards purchase intentions. The other objective was to study product preferences of different age cohorts towards herbal products and the influence of role model on their purchase intention behaviours.

Research methodology:

Results are derived from primary data collected from a customer sample in New Delhi, India during the months of May–June, 2015. Data analysis was done using Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS), version 20.

Findings:

This article identified that consumer ethnocentrism level differs according to age cohorts. For Baby Boomers and Generation X cohort, multiple linear regression analysis inferred that consumer ethnocentrism was the best predictor of purchase intention behaviour. In the case of Generation Y cohort, indirect role model, direct role model and consumer ethnocentrism did not significantly contribute to the purchase intention of Generation Y cohort.

Practical implications:

The research finding will be very useful in providing insight into Indian herbal product marketers to devise marketing strategies. The article contributes to research on consumer ethnocentrism by confirming some of the earlier findings with the help of a consumer sample from northern India.

Contributions:

This research study contributes to the existing literature by analysing the impact of consumer ethnocentrism and role model influence on purchase intention of customers on a diverse range of herbal product categories, using an age-cohort analysis.

Research limitations:

Consumers were asked to evaluate the attributes of herbal products without reference to any specific company/brand, and this could be one of the limitations of the study.

Keywords

Consumer ethnocentrism herbal products cohort analysis

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agarwal

P. K.

, Kumar

, & Kumar

(2013). Impact of celebrity endorsement in advertisement on customer buying patterns. International Journal of Research in Management, Economics, and Commerce, 2(1), 17–31.

Ashikali

E. M.

, & Dittmar

(2012). The effect of priming materialism on women’s responses to thin ideal media. British Journal of Social Psychology, 51(4), 514–533.

Balabanis

, & Diamantopoulos

(2008). Brand origin identification by consumers: A classification perspective. Journal of International Marketing, 16(1), 39–71.

Balabanis

, Mueller

and Melewar

T. C.

(2002). The relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and human values. Journal of Global Marketing, 15(3/4), 7–37.

Bandura

(1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Basow

S. A.

, & Howe

K. G.

(1980). Role-model influence: Effects of sex and sex-role attitude in college students. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 4(4), 558–572.

Batra

, Ramaswamy

, Alden

D. L.

, & Steenkamp

J.-B. E. M.

(2000). Effects of brand local/foreign origin on consumer attitudes in developing countries. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 9(2), 83–95.

Bilkey

W. J.

, & Nes

(1982). Country-of-origin effects on product evaluations. Journal of International Business Studies, 13(1), 89–99.

Booth

(1979). Strategy and ethnocentrism. London: Croom Helm.

10.

Bush

A. J.

, Smith

, & Martin

C. A.

(1999). The influence of consumer socialization variables on attitude toward advertising: A comparison of African-Americans and Caucasians. Journal of Advertising, 28(3), 13–24.

11.

Bush

A. J.

, & Martin

C. A.

(2000). Do role models influence teenagers’ purchase intentions and behavior?. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 17(5), 441–453.

12.

Carlson

, Walsh

, Laczniak

R. N.

, & Grossbart

(1994). Family communication patterns and marketplace motivations, attitudes, and behaviors of children and mothers. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 28(1), 25–53.

13.

Cayla

and Eckhardt

G. M.

(2007). Asian brands without borders: Regional opportunities and challenges. International Marketing Review, 24(4), 444–456.

14.

Clark

, Martin

, & Bush

(2001). The effect of role model influence on adolescents’ materialism and marketplace knowledge. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 9(4), 27–36.

15.

Craig

S. C.

, & Douglas

S. P.

(2006). Beyond national culture: Implications of cultural dynamics for consumer research. International Marketing Review, 23(3), 322–342.

16.

Douglas

S. P.

, & Craig

C. S.

(2011). The role of context in assessing international marketing opportunities. International Marketing Review, 28(2), 150–162.

17.

Javalgi

R. G.

, Khare

V. P.

, Gross

A. C.

, & Scherer

R. F.

(2005). An application of the consumer ethnocentrism model to French consumers. International Business Review, 14(3), 325–344.

18.

Keillor

B. D.

, Parker

S. R.

, & Schaefer

(1996). Influences on adolescent brand preferences in the United States and Mexico. Journal of Advertising Research, 36(3), 47–56.

19.

Laczniak

R. N.

, Muehling

D. D.

, & Carlson

(1995). Mothers’ attitudes toward 900-number advertising directed at children. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 14(1), 108–116.

20.

Lewis

L. M.

(1976). Social anthropology in perspective. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

21.

Lin

L. Y.

, & Chen

C. S.

(2006). The influence of the country-of-origin image, product knowledge and product involvement on consumer purchase decisions: An empirical study of insurance and catering services in Taiwan. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 23(5), 348–365.

22.

Liu

M. T.

, Huang

Y.-Y.

, & Minghua

(2007). Relations among attractiveness of endorsers, match-up, and purchase intention in sport marketing in China. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 24(6), 358–365.

23.

Luque-Martinez

, Ibanez-Zapata

J.-A.

, & Barrio-Garcia

(2000). Consumer ethnocentrism measurement. European Journal of Marketing, 34(11/12), 1353–1373.

24.

Lynn

(1976). The sociobiology of nationalism. New Society, July, 11–14.

25.

Mincheol

(2001). The animosity model of foreign product purchase revisited: Does it work in Korea? Journal of Empirical Generalisations in Marketing Science, 6(1), 1–14.

26.

Moschis

, & Churchill

G. Jr.

, (1978). Consumer socialization: A theoretical and empirical analysis. Journal of Marketing Research, 15(4), 599–609.

27.

Papadopoulos

, & Heslop

(2002). Country equity and country branding: Problems and prospects. Journal of Brand Management, 9(4/5), 294–314.

28.

Shimp

T. A.

, & Sharma

(1987). Consumer ethnocentrism: Construction and validation of the CETSCALE. Journal of Marketing Research, 24(3), 280–289.

29.

Sumner

W. G.

(1940). A study of the sociological importance of usages, manners, customs, mores, and morals. New York: Folkways.

30.

Verlegh

P. W. J.

, & Steenkamp

J.-B. E. M.

(1999). A review and meta-analysis of country-of-origin research. Journal of Economic Psychology, 20(5), 521–546.

31.

Wall

, & Heslop

(1986). Consumer attitudes towards Canadian-made versus imported products. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 14(2), 27–36.

32.

Ward

(1974). Consumer socialization. Journal of Consumer Research, 1(2), 1–16.

33.

Zhang

, & Neelankavil

J. P.

(1997). The influence of culture on advertising effectiveness in China and the USA. European Journal of Marketing, 31(1/2), 134–150.